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As you might have already heard, Yahoo Fantasy Hockey is now open for business. That means you or your commissioner can renew your league, you can check out their rankings, and you can even participate in a mock draft. Although I'm only participating in one Yahoo league at the moment, I still like to practice my draft skills with their mock drafts, which run frequently. Mock drafting also allows me to take a second look as to where I will rank players for the Top 100 Roto Rankings (August rankings coming soon… leave me your feedback and comments on any changes you'd like to see).

The settings for the draft I participated in are as follows:

Teams: 12

Standard positions: C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, D, D, D, D, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN.

Standard categories: Goals, Assists, Plus/Minus, Powerplay Points, Shots on Goal, Hits, Wins, Goals Against Average, Save Percentage, Shutouts

You can view the full draft results at my personal blog Goods Fantasy Hockey. I'm going to focus on the picks that I made and try not to critique anyone else's picks. I'm not sure that I picked the ideal team, as I had to make my decisions more quickly that I was comfortable with (30 seconds, if I remember correctly). Thinking on my feet has never been my strongest ability.

I put myself right at the middle of the round because I really had no idea who I would pick at #7. If you're one of those people that grabs #1, what's the point of that? You're there to practice. You know who you'll pick first overall. I guess it's challenging if you have to make two picks in a row as one of the end picks, although you have all the time in the world to decide who those two picks will be. Place yourself into challenging scenarios so that you get a better idea of what to do when they happen in your real draft.

Anyway, here goes with the picks.

Round 1 (7^th overall): Mikko Rantanen – I was basically deciding between him, Nikita Kucherov, and Jason Robertson. I picked the player with the most goals last season. As well, the Yahoo scout's pick advice widget (is that still a term?) told me to pick Rantanen. What if AI could make our picks for us? Oh wait, we can already do that. It's called autopick.

Round 2 (18^th overall): Igor Shesterkin – I REALLY didn't want to pick a goalie here, and the Zero G club will probably revoke my membership now. However, time is short in these mock drafts. My analysis plus gut tells me he's the best goalie available. My pick actually started a mini goalie run, with Jake Oettinger, Ilya Sorokin, and Andrei Vasilevskiy all being drafted later in the second round. 

Round 3 (31^st overall): Brayden Point – This pick was between Point and Elias Pettersson, and I was really sweating this one because I have Pettersson ranked higher. However, I decided to lean toward goals again. I don't think Point will score 50 again, but he might not be that far off if he can maintain his shot rate of nearly 3 SOG/GP in 2022-23. Point is generally a more selective shooter with a normally high shooting percentage (usually between 15-20%).  

Round 4 (42^nd overall): Steven Stamkos – I can handle picking two players from the same team. Picking two from the same team at the same position is not ideal because I am starting to put my eggs in one basket. However, Stamkos at this spot is too good to pass up, and he seemed to be the best player available. I was also thinking Sebastian Aho, but I missed that I could have had Adam Fox (picked two spots later).

Round 5 (55^th overall): Alex DeBrincat – This is about where I have him ranked in the Roto Rankings. A good pick, but not an outstanding pick. Finding a home in his native Michigan might help.

Round 6 (66^th overall): Johnny Gaudreau – Like Stamkos, couldn't pass up drafting him here. He's more ideal in pure scoring leagues than multicategory leagues, but I think he'll have a better season with a healthier Columbus team. By now I'm realizing that I really need a defenseman, so I filtered to that position next and found…

Round 7 (79^th overall): Quinn Hughes – How on earth are he and others like Miro Heiskanen, Victor Hedman, and the player I'm about to pick next still available here? Fix those rankings Yahoo! And don't you forget about defensemen in your draft. I know Hughes is similar to Gaudreau in that he's more of a pure scorer, but I'm totally grabbing a defenseman that scored 76 points last season in this spot.

Round 8 (90^th overall): Mikhail Sergachev – Victor Hedman was taken a few spots before, but I think Sergachev has just as much of a chance at PP1 as Hedman does. Their power-play icetime averages were very similar last season, and Sergachev was even used over Hedman in last season's playoffs.

Round 9 (103^rd overall): Jacob Trouba – Usually I'm tempted to let the lower-scoring, higher-peripheral players fall as far as possible before I think they get noticed by others. But I need hits (no blocked shots in this league), and Trouba will take care of that. I'd also consider Darnell Nurse here, but he was picked right after Sergachev.

Round 10 (114^th overall): Chris Kreider – Hey, he's one season removed from a 50-goal campaign. He also fills numerous multicategory boxes such as shots and hits.  

Round 11 (127^th overall): Anze Kopitar – Maybe this is the year that age finally catches up, since he now qualifies as an NHL senior citizen at age 35. His draft rank has been falling for a few years now and he's managed to maintain his production anyway. If that production starts to slide, we're now in the later rounds where players are more likely to be dropped at some point anyway.

Round 12 (138^th overall): Jakob Chychrun – He's a potential PP1 option who might be forgotten about in drafts since his season ended not long after he was traded to Ottawa.

Round 13 (151^st overall): Jacob Markstrom – I realized at this point that I totally forgot to pick a second goalie. I didn't make it a priority after picking Shesterkin way back in the second round. Markstrom is truly a zero G candidate this season who could bounce back if Calgary's overall play improves under new head coach Ryan Huska.

Round 14 (162^nd overall): Nikolaj Ehlers – His ranking might have dropped because he played only 45 games last season. The lack of power-play time is always an issue as well, but he could slot in on the first unit now that Blake Wheeler and Pierre-Luc Dubois have both left.

Round 15 (175^th overall): Elias Lindholm – Like Markstrom, Lindholm is a possible bounce back. There are only six forward spots and no utility spots in this draft, so teams are more likely trying to fill other positions. That might explain why he and Ehlers fell so far. Lindholm is also in a contract year and has a big decision to make as to whether he wants to stay in Calgary.

Round 16 (186^th overall): Luke Hughes – I usually grab a rookie or a young player with my last pick or two. It doesn't always pay off, as I had to drop William Eklund and Philip Tomasino very early in my single-season league last season. It did pay off during Elias Pettersson's rookie season. I also managed to trade Pettersson for a slightly more productive Jack Eichel midseason, so I basically turned a 15^th-round pick into a 4^th-round pick (where Eichel was drafted).  

Overall, I wasn't trying to pick specific players, but instead I was trying to mine the best value. Hopefully this gives you an idea of who you can target if you're mock drafting or even have a very early draft. If you’re bored, it’s a great way to get your mind back into fantasy hockey again.

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